For All We Know
by LilacRose33
Summary: We're back! It's the return/re-release of For All We Know! For All We Know is an A/U Inuyasha fanfiction with our favorite foursome. Kagome wakes up one morning in a strange place, in a strange bed, with Inuyasha...let the fun commence!
1. Chapter 1

**Being posted independently by LilacRose (with permission from Em of course), back by popular demand by several very wonderful requests! A special shoutout to Kauia and Roseinthemoonlight for kicking me in the butt till I got this done!**

**Chapter 1: A Dream Within A Dream**

"All that we see or seem/ Is but a dream within a dream."

-Edgar Allen Poe, A Dream Within A Dream

She had forgotten to close her window, she realized as she closed her eyes tighter against the persistent sunlight. Either that or she was still in Feudal Japan and just didn't remember—that wouldn't surprise her—it had happened before—except she didn't hear any sounds. She usually heard some sounds, even if it was just chirping of birds…

Well, there was only one test…

She turned over onto her back, relishing in the feel of the Serta Perfect Sleeper pillow top mattress and the caress of her blankets on her skin. She sighed contently. She was home, which meant she had left the window open…or Inuyasha had left it open…

She threw her arm over her eyes to block out the light and groaned low in her throat. If she got up, even to close the window, she'd have to stay up. She couldn't go back to sleep and her alarm hadn't even rung yet…it wasn't time for her to…

Her thoughts trailed off as she felt the weight shift on the mattress and the whisper of the bedding as it moved.

'_What the…'_

"Five more minutes," came the sleepy _male_ voice as a strong, warm arm snaked possessively over her stomach and a warm cheek nuzzled into her neck.

'…_Hell?!_' Her eyes shot open and she pulled away quicker than a jackrabbit.

"Oi!" complained the voice, thick with sleep.

In her flurry of movements as she tried to get away, she managed two things…one was to thoroughly muss the bedding so that all that was left of the man was a tanned arm and a lump where his body should be under the cream and gold bedding and two was to realize she was naked.

"Ahh!" she yelped, tugging the closest sheet she could get free and wrapping it around her.

The remaining sheets atop the man were pulled away just as quickly and a pair of wide awake gold eyes stared back at her, full of alert worry.

"What is it?!"

She gasped in surprise, almost loosing her grip on the sheets in the process.

He sat up, looking her over from head to toe as if looking for a problem. "What happened?"

"In…" she stammered, temporarily sidetracked by the line of his waist as the sheets moved. Her eyes snapped back to him. "Inu…yasha?"

He quirked his lips in what could have been amusement on anyone else. "Kagome?" he mimicked her tone.

'Holy Shit!' she thought frantically. 'What the hell am I doing in bed with Inuyasha and _naked!?_'

He was smirking at her. Her surprise turned to anger and she gave in to her usual reaction in such situations.

"SIIITTTT!" she yelled.

Inuyasha's smirk grew. "I am sitting," he said simply.

'_What?'_ her sight went to his neck and realized he wasn't wearing the beads.

"What the..why don't…" she stammered. There were too many things she wanted to ask for her brain and mouth to correspond. She took a deep steadying breath and decided on one question. "What the hell are you doing in my bed!?" she exclaimed in one breath.

Inuyasha's smile faded and his eyes went worried again. "_Your_ bed?" he asked. "Baby, are you alright?"

'Did he just call me…?' her eyes went wide as saucers as she noticed that he had started to stand and the sheet started to slip from off his hip revealing only flesh—

"Eep!" she exclaimed, turning her back to him. "What you doing?!" she exclaimed. The surprise wearing off, her cheeks started to flame from what she _almost_ had a front row seat to seeing.

She heard the movement behind her and squeezed her eyes shut. "Don't move!" she exclaimed, clutching the sheet to her own body in a futile attempt to keep it from falling down her back. 'What the hell is going on here?' she wondered frantically.

"Kagome?" he asked worriedly. "What's going on?"

Kagome started to turn to glare at him but stopped, flipping back around. "That's what I want to know!" she exclaimed, trying to fight off the mounting hysteria. "What are you doing in my bed? My room?"

Inuyasha, for his part, was at a loss for words. He looked around at his surroundings and found no difference in the room than had been there when they went to bed the night before. "Kagome, this is the same room where we…"

"No!" she exclaimed, her cheeks flushing again. "Don't say it!"

Inuyasha frowned, the worry mounting with each moment. "This is our room, Kagome, it hasn't changed."

"Our?" she looked around her, really looked at the off white walls, the cherry wood antique furniture, the soft coloring to the tasteful decorations—it was a beautiful room, but it wasn't hers.

A knock on the door startled her out of her realization. She tried to speak, but no sound came. She looked up as the door opened and Sango's face appeared at the door. "You guys are making too much noise…" Sango started, but stopped as she saw the look on Kagome's face.

'Why is Sango here?' Kagome thought. Her eyes opened even wider as she saw Miroku peek his head above her shoulder.

"Hey, some people are trying to sleep…" he trailed off as he looked from Kagome's face to Inuyasha's behind her. "Is everything alright?"

Kagome felt lost, disoriented. Maybe she wasn't really there at all. "Where am I?" Kagome finally whispered.

Sango looked behind Kagome to Inuyasha's startled and almost fear stricken face. The look of fear on Sango's face was not a comforting sight to Kagome…and then she saw nothing as the black rose up to swallow her conscious.

"What the hell happened?" Miroku asked.

Inuyasha shook his head absently, as he paced across the room. "How the hell should I know?" he growled, before turning back and pacing in the opposite direction. "She woke up like that."

Miroku followed his friend with his eyes. "Call the doctor," Miroku said.

Inuyasha paused only long enough to push back his hair into a ponytail away from his face. He shook his head. "I can't," he said softly.

"Inuyasha-"

He shook his head again, meeting Miroku's eyes. "I _can't_ Miroku. I promised her I wouldn't call the doctor ever again."

Miroku pushed away from the arm of the sofa and resisted the urge to stop Inuyasha from continuing to pace, but thought better of it at the last minute. Still, his frustration was evident in his voice. "Dammit, Inuyasha," he started. "You can't just ignore…"

"I don't want to hear it, Miroku," Inuyasha interrupted his friend. He paused in his pacing momentarily to shake his head. "I can't really blame her…after they did all those tests just because of her abilities…I can't subject her to that again."

"Then call Kaede," Sango spoke as she emerged from the room.

Inuyasha turned to her. "Is she awake?"

Sango shook her head. "She mumbled, but didn't wake—" she sighed. "It was a bitch to get her into the pj's. You guys have to stop sleeping naked."

Inuyasha blushed, but was too worried to respond. He started to walk toward his room but was stopped by Sango's arm.

"Call Kaede," Sango repeated. "She's trying to help her control her abilities..." Sango trailed off, shrugging. "She might know what's going on, or how to snap her out of it."

Inuyasha lowered his head. "Not without talking to her first." He looked almost pained. "I don't want to see that ache on her face anymore." Inuyasha sighed. "She barely kept sane last time," he almost whispered. "I can't…" Inuyasha shook his head emphatically, his hands turning into fists as he turned to them. "…_won't_ make her go through that again."

Neither Sango nor Miroku could argue that. After all, what could they say? Yes, Inuyasha, you need to give Kagome over to be a lab rat again because that's really what is best for her? Sango looked at Miroku and knew, just by the set to his chin that he remembered it, too…that lost, vacant look to Kagome's eyes after Inuyasha was finally able to get her out of that place…and she knew also that they would do anything they could to keep that look out of Kagome's face, no matter what it took.

"Well, whatever you decide, Inuyasha," Sango spoke up softly.

"We'll back you up," Miroku finished. "Whatever you need."

Inuyasha looked at his friends and nodded. With Miroku and Sango at his side, he knew they could figure this out. They were the best team out there, after all. No one could outsmart or beat them when they worked together.

He heard it when her breathing changed, going from deep and regular to just slightly more shallow. He looked out the door of the living room as if he could see through the walls, up the stairs and into the room where she was, and although he couldn't, he could _feel_ it as consciousness was starting to return to her unconscious mind. He _really_ wished that she would wake up, screaming at him for not having woken her up for work and bitching about stupid alarm clocks. The half smile that had stolen across his lips at the memory faded as he felt the distance between them…a distance he hadn't felt for so many years the loss of her was like an ache. He sighed as he realized that whatever it was that had come over her was still there, for that distance to be there.

Inuyasha turned to Miroku who was suddenly at his side. He forced a smile and patted his shoulder. "Thanks, Miroku, but right now, what I really need is for you both to get your butts in gear and go to work…we can't all stay in or we won't get paid."

Miroku grinned wryly. "So, why do you get to stay in, huh?" he called out cheekily.

"Cause I'm the boss," Inuyasha answered as he walked out of the living room.

"I thought this was a _partnership!"_ Miroku called out after him, resorting to the same old line he knew would always make them laugh. He waited and didn't hear Inuyasha's laughter, and he turned to Sango.

Sango opened her mouth to speak, when Inuyasha's voice floating back down to them.

"I'll remind you of that the next time we have to take a freebie!"

Sango closed her mouth with a chuckle. "I guess he'll be all right," Sango whispered to Miroku as they walked to the front door.

Miroku handed Sango her overcoat and briefcase, grinning. "We'll make sure of that, won't we?"

Sango tried to read Miroku's expression and saw only sincerity. She grinned as she walked through the door. "Definitely."


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2: Touch Me**_

"_Touch me, / remind me who I am."_

_-Touch Me, __Stanley Kunitz_

The first thing she felt as she awoke was the headache and her first conscious thought was to think that it couldn't be a good sign—those days she woke with a headache never went well.

Oh, and that dream!

She frowned before opening her eyes.

It was so strange…

Still, she couldn't resist the urge to reach out next to her. She sighed when she felt nothing but sheets. She opened her eyes, wincing as the light from the window made her head throb. She blinked, trying to focus and with a quick, short scraping type sound, the bright light from the window dimmed.

'What the?' she thought. She pulled away the sheets and felt the cotton of her pjs on her body. She turned to look at the window and saw the thick brown curtains filtering out the light.

'Brown curtains?' she thought. That wasn't right…unless her mother changed them…but…

"How do you feel?"

She looked up to see that wonderfully handsome face looking down at her, large golden eyes wide with worry. For just a moment she was lost in that face, and in how much even he had changed. At first, he was the same Inuyasha, breathtakingly incredible face, etched chin that slid into a muscular neck and down to solid warm shoulders. She had to pull her eyes away from his bare chest, never mind that he was now clothed from the waist down. Never mind that she had bandaged his bare chest dozens of times…there was a casual grace, a…a familiar-ness to his demeanor as he sat before her despite the lack of clothing from the waist up that made even the top half a hormonal experience that left her cheeks flushing. He was an older Inuyasha, matured, and even more appealing to her, both physically and, she fought the blush at the open look in his eyes, emotionally.

"Aw, shit, it wasn't a dream."

He frowned. "How do you feel?" he repeated. "I won't call a doctor unless you want me to," he assured her, his hands gently brushing her hair from her face.

Kagome shook her head, moving slightly out of his reach. The look of fear hadn't completely left her eyes, but now there was confusion as well. "A doctor?" she asked. The very thought of explaining to a doctor what she did remember sent chills down her spine. "No," she shook her head again. "I'm not sick; I just don't remember you…not like this…" She ran a hand through her hair. "It's not supposed to be like this…" she narrowed her eyes as if to more fully inspect him. "Why are you being so nice?" Her eyes traced over his face. "And where are the beads?"

Inuyasha frowned at her questions, unable to understand what she meant. Why was he being so nice? Because he was worried about her, obviously, but there was something about the tone to the question that led him to believe there was more behind the question than the simple meaning of the words. And the beads? This was the second time she had looked to his neck like something should be there…could she be talking about the prayer necklace? He frowned. Why would she be asking about that thing? "Let me call Kaede," he decided. "She can help you figure out what's going on…"

"Kaede?" Kagome interrupted, unsure she had heard correctly. She looked around herself one more time at the thoroughly modern surroundings. "Here?" First, Miroku and Sango appeared to have been able to come through the well, now Kaede had too?

Inuyasha had that feeling again as if they were speaking two totally different languages, even if she had woken up speaking Japanese without once slipping into English the way they had become accustomed to doing. "I can call her and she'll be here in no time, I'm sure…"

Kagome tried to hold back the tears as she looked at him. "Call her?" Kagome echoed. "Since when can we call Kaede?" She blinked back tears as she looked at his worried face. "What's going on, Inuyasha?" she asked. "This isn't how it's supposed to be!"

He frowned. "Why don't you tell me how it's supposed to be?" He leaned forward in his chair next to the bed and steepled his hands under his chin. Kagome looked at his hands, so like the hands she knew, except…

She stared at the silver band etched with small symbols along it. 'He's married?' The shock rippled through her and she blinked several times, but the ring was still there, fourth finger, left hand…

"You're married?" Kagome asked, clearly shocked.

He tried to keep the worry and pain out of his eyes. Carefully, he reached out for her hand. Luckily, she was so much in shock that she didn't resist the contact. He held her hand gently, as if afraid to break it, and brought it up to his chin, to her eye level. Kagome couldn't miss the identical ring on her own finger, alongside a simply gorgeous, platinum diamond solitaire ring. She stared at it in something akin to awe for a few moments, the meaning of it beginning to filter through her shock.

"_We're_ married," he whispered. "We just celebrated our four month anniversary last week."

"We?" Kagome asked, sitting up in bed, half grateful to find she was wearing pajamas. "You do know who I am, don't you? You know I'm not Kikyo right?"

Inuyasha frowned, the worry creasing his brow. "Of course I know who you are," he insisted. He shook his head. "Who is this Kikyo person and why would I confuse you with her?" He asked.

The ringing of the phone cut off any reply she could have offered, even if she would have known what to reply.

Inuyasha looked at the phone beside him and cursed under his breath. "Damn," he told her. "It's Ayumi," he looked at the clock and cursed again under his breath. "The Hyakki conference call."

Kagome's eyes widened. "Ayumi?" she questioned, then… "Conference call?"

Inuyasha looked at her worriedly, but picked up the phone. "Hey, Ayumi," he greeted, his tone friendly, and only barely covering up the worry. "No, actually, I don't think she's going to make it in today, she has a migraine." He looked at Kagome who was looking at him as if the only reason she wasn't freaking out was because she thought she was in a dream and would be waking up any moment.

Kagome, for her part, almost smiled as Inuyasha told, apparently Ayumi (_Ayumi?)_ that she had a migraine and wouldn't be going into work_ (wait…work?)_. Well, it was certainly better than the excuses her jii-san had come up with, and there was a slight throbbing behind her eyes that hadn't gone away, and it could very well be a migraine _(How would Inuyasha know she had a migraine?)_ She narrowed her eyes at him. _'If he was, indeed, Inuyasha.' _She still wasn't completely convinced this wasn't a dream of some sort, or a hallucination, but would she get a migraine in a hallucination? She lifted a hand to her temple and tried to massage the throbbing away. She did _not_ have a migraine, anyway. It had to be a headache brought on only because of stress…she always got those when she was stressed. _Stress?_ She thought. _Does one get stress headaches in dreams?_

Inuyasha in the meanwhile noticed the strange play of emotions and thoughts that flowed over his wife's face, particularly the look of scrutiny that she fixed on him. Ayumi's voice drifted off into a low drone as she rattled on about a few bits of news that were relatively unimportant. Kagome kept fixing her gaze on his hand then her own, the astonishment mixing so strongly with her own sense of insecurity that he could smell it float off her skin like smoke. He didn't like it. He realized it wasn't her fault, but of all the things to forget, the fact that they had married, the things they had shared since donning those rings. He became so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't realize Ayumi had asked him a question until she shouted loudly over the phone, causing his ears to ring painfully. For such a small, slender, and relatively quiet woman, she could probably shatter glass if she put her mind to it. "What was that?" he asked, listening. "Yeah, the file's in Kagome's office…" he ran a hand through his hair as he listened to the other end or thought, Kagome couldn't be sure, but if she squinted just right, she could almost swear he looked just like he did when he considered one of their plans against Naraku…the glint in his eye, the set of his jaw…was her Inuyasha in there somewhere? _(Her_ Inuyasha?) She shook her head. _What the hell was he talking about anyway?_

"Right," he spoke into the phone, having come to some kind of conclusion. "I'll need you to call Mrs. Shidou and reschedule for later in the afternoon…" Inuyasha listened as apparently Ayumi spoke into her end. He looked frustrated now, Kagome noticed. He shook his head. "It _can't_ be tomorrow," he emphasized. "It _has_ to be today…" he sighed, listening. "I realize that, and tell Mrs. Shidou that we're very sorry but things come up that we can't plan or account for sometimes and that if she wants to help Mrs. Hyakki, she'll have to try and work with us." Inuyasha nodded. "Yeah, I'll call Miroku, I think I can catch him, if not tell him to call me at home when he gets in."

Kagome blinked and felt as if she were watching a film by her favorite actor, the actions and movements, dialogue being spoken by a familiar face, but so totally different than the last thing she had seen it was like he was a different person. Kagome held back a gasp as Inuyasha looked at her when Ayumi apparently spoke of her. She had an irrational desire to call out her greeting to Ayumi but didn't think it would bode well with Inuyasha's version of her headache. So, she rose a brow instead, and even that seemed to trigger a particularly insistent throb, so she lowered it almost immediately.

"Uh-huh," Inuyasha spoke into the phone. "I'll have her call you as soon as she's feeling better," he assured her. His eyes still on Kagome, he pressed at a mysterious little button on the handset and then dialed a number quickly and from memory, half his attention still on her as he lifted the receiver to his lips.

He was watching her as if he expected her to do something and Kagome resisted the urge to squirm in her seat. Now, _that_ look she recognized. _What's he doing?_ Kagome asked herself, then remembered. _Ah, yes, calling Miroku, of course…_She almost smiled as she realized it really did feel as if she were watching a movie or a play, except those golden eyes were still fixed on her. She was about ready to say something…anything…when he cursed again under his breath and hung up. Kagome was about to ask him what had happened when he put the handset back on the receiver and turned to her.

"Voicemail," he told her. "I'll have to wait until he gets to the office," he walked over to her and although the feeling of watching a movie still somewhat remained, it was more like an interactive play now, as he moved onto the bed and crawled on all fours across the mattress towards her. The scene itself brought a bright blush to her cheeks, but she forced herself to control her overactive imagination. A strange fluttering feeling spread along her stomach, and something she had never felt before rose up within her. The room seemed to get warmer as he paused only a short distance from her face, his eyes intensely dark and studying. He seemed to be looking at her and through her, studying her as if he could figure out what had happened and how he could fix it.

Kagome could almost feel his heartbeat fanning against her skin and she quickly pushed backwards, feeling the headboard press cold against her back. He stayed where he was, watching her, and a pull rose up in her chest. Something inside her itched to wrap her arms around his neck, to pull him close and hold him to her. As if that simple action could make all the confusion and fear fade away.

Mostly her body was instinctually screaming to touch him, any part of him, even for a second. It was a craving that rippled across her skin, a wild animal that grabbed a hold of her senses and almost forced her to move across that bed. He didn't move, perhaps he was waiting to see what she would do.

'What is going on?' she thought desperately as she grabbed the pillow beneath her, squeezing it tightly into her fist. After a moment the need finally faded away, leaving her shaken and flushed.

Inuyasha watched the flush spread across her face and down her neck. Her scent grew musky, even thick, and he could feel the desire in her. But she fought against it, holding back against what her natural instincts were demanding of her. This was bad, very bad. Even as children she was always hugging him affectionately, taking his hand in hers, even curling up with him as they slept, without any difficulties. What was going on?

She pushed back the feelings, waiting until like the craving left her…until she felt that if she let go of the pillow, her hands wouldn't reach out to him of their own accord. It had never been like this before, this _need_ to touch him, as if her very life depended on the contact. _Had she ever felt like she could just touch him like that?_ She wondered. She could remember various times when she had _wished_ she could touch him, but never as if there would be no consequences, no possibility of rejection, and never in such a primal way, never as if she were depriving her body of air if she didn't. The look on his face almost made it worse; it was if he _wanted_ her to touch him…

She felt her face relax and the outside of her lips quirk into something of a smile. Now she knew it had to be a dream, she thought. There's no way her Inuyasha would want her to touch him like that…the thought brought her dangerously close to her previous state so she shook it off and the smile left her lips just as easily as it came. _There was that word again,_ she thought. _Her Inuyasha?__ Since when had Inuyasha belonged to her?_ She lifted both hands up to her temple, partly to give them something else to do other than reaching out to him and partly because the headache was beginning to throb again.

"Kagome," Inuyasha's voice speaking her name brought her attention from her inner monologue to look into his eyes once again. "I don't want to call Kaede unless you give the okay, but I really think it's the best thing for you right now…" he ran a hand through his hair and Kagome could see he was really trying to keep a hold of his emotions. "I just don't know what to do for you…" he confessed, exhaling.

'You don't know?' Kagome thought. 'At least you seem to know where you are.'

"It's never been like this before and…it's scaring me, Kagome."

Kagome's eyes darted to meet his and she could almost feel the worry and the pain reverberating from him and her heart ached because she knew she was causing it, but she didn't know what to do about it. "I'm sorry," she said, the words the best she could think of. "But as far as I remember, I went to sleep in my room at home and woke up here."

Inuyasha neared her again. "You do recognize me, though, don't you? It's not a total amnesia."

Kagome shook her head. "It's not amnesia at all!" she exclaimed. "I just…" she shook her head. "I just don't seem to remember the same things you do…" she trailed off, realizing how strange it sounded, even to her own ears. "I feel like Alice through the looking glass," she whispered.

Inuyasha took her hands in his. "Why don't you tell me what you remember?" She felt a tingle as his skin touched hers, even the slightest movement from his fingers sending currents of electricity along her skin. It was more than comforting, and so much more than caring, it was coming home. That realization shocked her more than his touch. No wonder she craved to be near him so much, she-rather this body knew that Inuyasha was more than someone she loved; he was someone she needed, and in that thought she also realized that he needed her just as badly.

'Was it always like that for him? I know that I love him, but did he always have the need to be near me?' She looked at him as if searching for the answer, but couldn't find it in the handsome plains of his face. She knew his face so well, that she could close her eyes and paint the picture behind her closed lids. She could, and had, summoned him in her dreams countless times.

'Am I dreaming?'

That was it, she realized. She must be in the middle of some dream, some fever induced dream, maybe. She was probably in a hospital at this very moment, or in Kaede's hut, worrying all her friends…did she eat something? Did she step on something? She didn't remember getting wounded in a battle.

Naraku! Maybe it was Naraku!

'Or Kikyo!'

She frowned. But why would Kikyo or Naraku make her dream of something like this? She looked at Inuyasha and searched his face…he looked exactly as she remembered him, except…well, except his hair. It was still as long as she remembered it, but it was picked up at his nape with a rubber band, keeping most of it away from his face rather than loose and semi-wild…and his expression…

He was looking at her the way he had looked at Kikyo that time that Naraku almost managed to kill her. Like he wanted to protect her and didn't know how and like he didn't care if she saw it.

Before she realized it, her hand was at his cheek and she saw the contrast of skin tones, the wedding band blatantly visible to her now that she knew where to look. She relished in the feel of his skin under her palm, the sudden freedom she felt knowing that the ring on her finger allowed her to touch him. Her hand traced the curve of his cheek and she felt it as his face turned into her palm. She felt the tingle start at her palm and travel through her body…she felt the press of his lips on the soft pad of her palm and shivered. As if of its own volition, her hand moved into the softness of his hair…it was just as soft and thick as she remembered; the same silky smooth waves that she had often pressed her cheek against as they ran through the wildernesses of the Sendoku Jidai. Shimmering silver was the only way to describe the color, and his eyes were a rich molten gold color, like pools of the ore. Her eyes followed her hand as it moved to the top of his head and found his ears. He was still a hanyou…she heard a soft sigh as she caressed his ears…

…everything was the same as she remembered it, but how could Inuyasha be just the same and yet so different than what she knew? How could she be given everything she ever wanted in a man, and then overnight he became divine? She felt his ears twitch slightly against her attentive fingers, and barely noticed his hand sliding along her waist and across her back until he whispered her name hoarsely. "Kagome…" and it almost sounded like a prayer he spoke as the arm pulled her close against his chest, crushing her to him. She couldn't move, and for a moment, she didn't want to, everything felt so completely right.

'Snap out of it,' yelled the logical side of her brain and she inhaled sharply, awakening from the sensual dream in which she found herself.

The sound of surprise escaping her lips reminded him that she wasn't herself and with a growl, he pulled away from her. He sat back and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry," he finally spoke quietly.

Kagome winced at the sound of pain in his voice. "No, I…" she stopped, unsure of what she could say to him. She sighed, standing. She couldn't face that look in his eyes anymore. She needed to take a walk or…something…get out of that room that still smelled of him. "I need to take a shower," Kagome announced, walking toward the door to the left of the door that Miroku and Sango had come in from which she supposed was the bathroom. She opened the door and came face to face with a walk in closet clothes neatly arranged on both sides and a mountain of shoes at the back. She turned back to look at Inuyasha, who was pointing at the door at the other end of the room. She closed the closet door and walked to the other door with as much dignity as she could muster.

Inuyasha watched her go and sighed as he heard the shower head turn on. _She_ needed a shower? If she needed a shower, he might need a dip on the cold lake out back. All the cold water in the world wasn't going to cool his blood at that moment. 'I don't think she even realized what effect-' he began, before shaking his mind from that track. He had more important things to take care of, he reminded himself as he took a moment to compose himself before standing. He reached for the phone and dialed the number almost automatically.

"Law Office, good morning," said the chirping voice after the third ring.

"Good morning, Gin," Inuyasha greeted.

"Actually, sir, it's Jenny," the voice replied. "But, good morning."

Inuyasha tried to put a face to the name and shook his head. They got so many new girls answering the phone, since they were mostly volunteers and a lot of college students, that is was impossible to keep track of them. Kagome thought it was a good idea to give college students the chance, though and Miroku agreed since they didn't have to pay them as much. Plus, he was horrible with names…always had been. "Sorry," Inuyasha apologized. Then, remembering Kagome's constant reminders for him to be nicer to the girls, he tried again. "So, how has your first day gone so far?"

"Uh…" the girl faltered. "My first week's been fine, sir."

Inuyasha held himself back from slapping his forehead. "Right," he clipped. "Glad to hear it, any calls?" he said, deciding to forgo the nicecities for the moment.

"A few, but I think they were mostly for appointments, and Ayumi took care of them," she replied.

Inuyasha could hear the humor in her voice. Obviously, Miroku had been telling the girl about her predecessors. Well, at least she wasn't offended. He remembered that one girl that had nearly bit his head off when she had to remind him of her name for the 5th time that day. "Good," Inuyasha answered, watching the bathroom door. "Has Miroku come in, yet?"

"He just walked in five minutes ago, sir," the girl answered.

Inuyasha could practically hear the blush in the girl's voice and tried not to swear. That pervert would get them in serious trouble one day. The problem was, Inuyasha realized, he didn't have to do much more than smile at the girls and they tended to get all flustered. He half wondered what it was about him, but shook off the thought as he heard the change in the way the water fell in the shower, signaling that Kagome had gotten into the shower.

"Pass me to Miroku, will you?" He asked. "Oh, and I won't be in, today," he told Gi…uh…the girl. "Please tell everyone I'm in depositions all day and pass them to Ayumi."

"Sure thing," Jenny replied. "Hold on, I'll transfer you," she said before he heard a click and the hold music.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Details

"_I want to know God's thoughts…the rest are details"_

_-Albert Einsten_

Kagome stood in the middle of the spacious bathroom and realized that she didn't know where the towels were.

She looked around her and appreciated how perfectly the light, sky blue of the walls matched the gleaming silver of the modern looking faucets, mirrors, and lamps and how it all accentuated the warm brown of the tiles at her feet. Her eyes stalled over the large tub across from the glass doors of the walk in shower and she was seriously tempted to soak her troubles away…

She heard Inuyasha move about outside and thought he might have been coming inside, but then she heard him pick up the phone. She went to the shower and turned it on, figuring if he thought she was showering, he wouldn't think that his presence was needed inside.

She should just get in the shower and bathe. She knew that always made her feel better, but…but if she couldn't find the towels, she couldn't bathe…

Kagome sat on the toilet seat cover and tried to keep from weeping. There were tasteful cabinets on the walls in front of her, but they didn't have towels, rather they had wicker baskets with a varied assortment of toiletry products. One, by the faucet did have towels, but they were very obviously hand towels and wouldn't do at all.

Kagome leaned her head on her hands, bracing them against her knees and looked around her…it was a rather large bathroom, much larger than her bathroom at home and the light streaming in from the windows behind the tub gave the room a warm, comforting glow that made Kagome feel very comfortable in the homey atmosphere of the place. Vaguely, she realized that this wasn't at all what she would have imagined Inuyasha's bathroom would look like. Even though she had never really thought about it, if she would have had to picture Inuyasha's bathroom, it would probably have been done in tones of red…much more earthy than these cooler shades.

This was a lot more like what she would do with a bathroom of this size and with this light…

What _she_ would do…

_Could this be…?_

She looked around the bathroom again, this time with a slightly different eye…

Where would _she_ put the towels?

Her eyes fell on the small door nearly hidden by the shadow of the outer door. Could it be there, she wondered? Well, it was certainly where she would put the towels, but, this wasn't really her bathroom!

Either it was her bathroom and the towels were behind that door, which would be the linen cabinet, or she was suffering from some mad delusion and dreaming that this was her bathroom in which case the towels would…Kagome shrugged…still be in that cabinet. There was only one way to really find out. She stood up, and, like one going into battle, walked to the end of the bathroom, reaching forward. Her hand curled around the silver handle and with a slow deep breath of apprehension, she opened the door.

There, lying neatly folded, visibly soft and fragrant from a recent wash, lay a set of red wine towels. Stacked according to size, they invited her now more than ever to that shower that she craved.

'That still doesn't answer my question. Did I really put them in here, or is this a dream?' She sighed and slid out of the pj's, and into the steamy shower, hoping the hot water would answer some questions that the towels couldn't.

The hot water felt wonderful as it beat down upon her skin, easing muscles she hadn't even realized were tensed. She sighed and dipped under the shower head, allowing the water to course over her head and down her body in thick rivulets.

'Where am I?' she thought for the umpteenth time. 'Were they right?' she wondered. Was she suffering from some kind of delusional episode? She tried to call up to her memory the last thing about Sengoku Jidai she could remember…

She frowned as she remembered that she and Inuyasha had had another fight and she had…

She turned and let the water beat upon her back and shoulders while she absently lathered the front of her body with the sea-green puffy sponge in the shower caddy in the corner.

She had run off, leaving him lying on his face in the dirt not three feet from the well. She remembered that, and she remembered being frustrated and then angry, and just a little sad that it had come down to the same old same old as she jumped through the well, but…

Kagome inhaled the scent of cucumbers and basil and just a hint of citrus…ah, she loved Bath and Body Works, she thought absently as she let the water wash away the suds.

But…what _had_ she and Inuyasha been fighting about before she left?

She couldn't remember.

Her hands stilled in their work massaging the shampoo into her scalp. Why _couldn't_ she remember what she and Inuyasha had fought about?

She distinctly remembered stomping to the well, half-heartedly wishing he would stop her from going home, but knowing that he was prone against the ground for another good 5 minutes, more than enough time for her to go through and she refused to wait for him…why couldn't he say anything _nice_, for once?

She felt the familiar sting in her eyes and told herself it was the shampoo, so she dipped her face under the water.

He could've at least tried to stop her with words.

All he would've had to say was 'Don't go,' she realized. All he had to ask was 'Please, stay.' If he said that she would never be able to say no…screw her tests, she would be hard pressed to go back to see her family if he told her that.

'This is no time to be thinking about that old wound.' She shook her head of the thoughts. 'Focus,' she chastised herself. 'What else do you remember?' she asked herself.

Did she remember going through the well? She nodded as her hands spread conditioner through her thick locks, absently untangling knots as they worked. 'Yes,' she told herself. 'I went through the well and took a bath and got into bed, I know because I remember thinking…'

Kagome's thoughts scattered and she looked around her. 'Oh, no…' she thought. Could she have…?

But no…just thinking that she wished Inuyasha would be different didn't mean…

…did it?

She looked down at her abdomen, the place where the old scar was a constant reminder of her destiny, but her hands skimmed over pale, flawless skin.

_Where's the Shikon no Tama?_

After what seemed like an eternity and yet still such a short time, considering what faced her outside the safety of these walls, she turned the faucet off, and let the water drip off her body.

'Come on Kagome, you can't stay in here forever,' she coached herself, sliding the glass door aside and stepping out of the shower. She reached for one of the towels and wrapped it around herself, relishing momentarily on the fresh scent of the clean towel. _'Have I always loved the smell of fresh towels so much?_' she wondered. If she was honest with herself, she couldn't remember the last time she remembered smelling freshly laundered _anything_. 'Must be the rush I'm always in,' she reasoned.

The mirror caught her eye, and with a certain amount of trepidation, she approached it. At first, all she saw was the fogged up glass from her bath, but as she moved closer an image began to appear through the fog. Apprehensively, she reached her hand out and wiped the moisture from the glass very slowly, feeling the condensation slide over her palm and down her wrist. For a brief second, she was almost afraid of the face that would look back at her, a face that resembled the woman who had ruled Inuyasha's heart first. It was then replaced with the expectation to see 15 year old Kagome Higurashi, smiling back and laughing at her foolishness for believing in this dream. It was neither.

The woman who looked back at her with equal amounts of fear and worry in her deep eyes was a stranger. Kagome stared at her reflection, still blurred from the incomplete cleaning she had given the mirror upon which it was echoed. The woman who watched her reminded her of her mother in some ways. She had the same large dark brown eyes, warm and caring behind the mask of pain and confusion. Her velvety black hair hung limply over her shoulders from the moisture of the air, drops of water running off the tips to tickle as they disappeared below the terry cloth of the towel. As if in a dream, she undid the knot holding the towel in place and let it drop at her feet, inspecting her skin through the detachment of the mirror, following the line of her hair as it stuck to her skin like a scarf, flowing over her shoulders and over her breasts, covering her decently. It was much longer than she had remembered, even longer than Kikyou's. She could feel it pressing along her back.

She reached forward and opened a drawer to the side of the mirror, pulling out a thick elastic as if she knew it would be there. Of course it would; in her dream bathroom such as this she would have placed it there. She twisted up her wet hair into a very floppy bun, pulling it off her body and neck, and then glanced at her reflection again. This wasn't even her body, not the body she remembered. No, this was the body of a woman far past the tender innocent age of 15. It was taller, and slimmer than the body that braved the wilderness of the Sengoku Jidai, save for the same long slender legs that had shamelessly showed beneath the short skirt of a school girl.

Her neck was more pronounced, her head carried with confidence, her face less soft and more definite, as if the lines of the face in the portrait before her had been finished…it was the difference between looking at a sketch and looking at the finished painting…her face was thinner, too, more defined; the high cheekbones and clear eyes gave her age and maturity while the soft, pale, smooth skin maintained the look of youth. With a soft gasp, she realized that the woman staring back at her was beautiful. 'Is this what the gangly, awkward girl I'm so familiar with will turn out to be?'

Her arms caught her attention as she had reached up to touch her face, and they caught her attention next: They were sinewy and long, and her gaze followed the length of them down to her hands, to the fateful ring on her hand, and noted the slender fingers, and the well groomed nails, a far cry from the rough skin and shortened, almost ragged nails from her adolescence.

'Who am I?' she thought as her gaze returned to the face in the mirror, mouthing the same words and watching even those foreign red lips move in unison. She waited a moment, half expecting the lips on the strangely foreign face to move on their own to answer her question, and when it was obvious that they wouldn't, and that the answer wouldn't come to her out of thin air, she sighed and glanced towards the door. _He_ would know, she admitted. Would _her_ Inuyasha know who she thought she was? Her heart wanted to believe he would, but she couldn't even make her mental voice sound convincing.

'I have to face him,' she thought to herself and left behind the woman in the mirror to face the man outside.

She picked up the towel and wrapped it around herself again, glancing disgustedly at the pjs in the corner. She exhaled and the air blew an errant strand of her hair out of her eyes. Were her bangs that long in her memories? 'Well,' she told herself sternly. 'It doesn't matter, because they are now, aren't they?' She looked around for a bathrobe, but, just as she had known that the hair band was in that drawer, she knew the robe wasn't in the bathroom.

'Wait…'

Kagome walked to the same closet she had retrieved the towels from and looked at the contents, finding more towels, extra toothpaste, shampoo, bubble bath, bath salts, shaving cream, massage oil…_(massage oil?!)_…all stacked neatly on the shelves, but no robe.

'Now, where would I put a bathrobe?' she asked herself. Her answer came back surprisingly, frustratingly obvious: In the linen closet. But, she confirmed as she opened the door again, there weren't any robes there at all. She had a fleeting moment of triumph as she looked at the back of the door she still held the handle of and found the metal hooks…the _empty_ metal hooks.

'Damnit, Kagome, couldn't you have remembered to put the robes back after you washed them?' she chastised. This was just great. She closed the door and turned to the door that led to the outside, listening for any signs of life.

The room beyond the bathroom door was eerily silent and she thought for sure, Inuyasha must have left the room by now. She looked down at herself and tucked the flap of the towel more securely around herself, seriously considering turning the bathroom upside down for a bathrobe of some sort, but she knew she wouldn't find it. She sighed. It really was her own fault, she concluded. She had been in such a hurry to get away from Inuyasha that she hadn't though to bring any clothes into the bathroom with her. She could put on her pjs again, but she'd have to put them on without any underwear and that just didn't seem decent.

Besides, she reasoned, it was too quiet outside for Inuyasha to be there…he _had_ to be in the living room or something.

She opened the door a crack and looked into the room. The bed was still as rumpled as when she left it, but there was no Inuyasha sitting there. The coast appeared to be clear. She stepped outside carefully and was halfway to the closet door when the hallway door opened quietly. She nearly jumped out of her skin before realizing that Inuyasha was just as surprised. She had no where to run…both the closet and the bathroom were at equal distances from her current position.

She opened her mouth and took in a large lungful of air, the subduing word automatically having come to her brain as her instinctual reaction before she saw his ears twitch in expectation of a scream and she swallowed the word, finally realizing that if she screamed it, it would do nothing more than confuse the hell out of him. Plus, it wasn't his fault. Still, it didn't take away from the situation she found herself in, instead, that initial reaction had left her feeling embarrassed on top of surprised, oh, and shocked. She should say something, do something, but all she could do was stand there and look at him.

He, she noticed with a slight twinge of regret, was now fully clothed and she felt practically indecent in the flimsy towel, regardless of the fact that it covered all important areas. Still, she brought her hands to the top of the towel wrapped around her as if to keep it in place and looked at him.

"I…" he started.

His voice snapped her out of her deer-in-the-headlights shock, finally getting her moving so that she hurried the rest of the way to the closet, opening it and taking refuge in its depths.

"I'm sorry," he called to her, stepping into the room. "I thought you were still inside the…" she heard his hesitation. "I just brought you something, but…I'll wait outside…" Kagome heard him start to walk across the room and felt her heart wrench in her chest.

"Wait," she called out. "Please, stay…" she spoke before she could change her mind. "I…" she looked around her and realized she didn't know which of the built-in drawers would hold her things. There was a clear division of the clothes on the hangers between male and female clothing, but, the drawers were anybody's guess.

She started opening drawers at random, but came face to face with very obviously male unmentionables. She slammed the drawer closed rapidly, then, thinking better of it opened it again, cocking her head to the side as she inspected the contents. 'Huh,' she thought. 'Briefs…' she mentally shrugged. 'Who would've guessed?'

"To your right," came Inuyasha's voice, surprising her into slamming the drawer shut again as if he had caught her red-handed. "That whole wall of drawers is yours."

Ignoring the blush creeping up her cheeks, she opened the top drawer and stared at it for a full five minutes before really understanding what she was looking at. She reached in and took out the top garment, pinched between her thumb and index finger. 'A thong?' she asked herself. 'A black lace thong,' her inner voice answered, half amused. "Oh, hell no," she exclaimed on a whisper.

"What was that?" Inuyasha asked.

She let it drop and closed the drawer in one quick movement. "Nothing," she called back, opening the second drawer, hoping that there was something a little less…risqué in that one.

With a sigh of relief, she pulled out a pair of white cotton underwear and matching bra. With one last glance at the door, she shed her towel.

"Are you finding everything all right?" Inuyasha called.

Kagome looked around her at the clothes and sighed. None of this looked like her clothes. "Yeah," she called back. She pulled out a pair of black leather pants and her eyes opened wide. "Such as it is." She put the pants back and found the pair of green cargo pants next to them. 'Who is this Kagome?' she wondered. Ayumi seemed to work with her, which was strange in itself if she managed to get past the fact that she worked, period. Inuyasha spoke to her friends as if he had known them as long as she did, and she had black lace thong panties and black leather pants in her wardrobe. Nothing about this Kagome seemed to be even remotely like the Kagome that she herself was. Then, something occurred to her.

"Tell me something," she called out, unable to stand the strained silence on the other side of the door. "You said before that Miroku would handle meeting with a teacher for me?" she asked.

"That's right," Inuyasha called back

She paused in rummaging through the closet. "Am I a teacher?"

"You don't remember Mrs. Hyakki or Mrs. Shidou?" Inuyasha asked after a moment.

Kagome sighed. "No," she spoke. "I don't."

"You're not a teacher," he replied from the other side of the door, his voice neutral, as if he were trying to keep his emotions from her.

Once again, she paused in the act of deciding between tan corduroy slacks and brown khakis. "Then what do I do, exactly?" she asked.

"You're…" he paused. "We're lawyers."

He sounded like he was right outside the door. Kagome paused in the act of pulling on the tan corduroys and resisted the urge of going to the door. But it was hard…something inside her pulled at her in his direction, like she could feel his pain even through the door. She shook off the feeling and finished dressing, finally deciding on a cable knit turtleneck sweater in an amazing ruddy orange color that she felt set off the color of her skin perfectly and matched the pants.

"A lawyer?" she asked, loosening her hair from the band that held it and running her fingers through it. She couldn't find a brush, even though she knew that there was one in the bathroom, she decided to forgo the brushing. She had done worse in the Sengoku Jidai, hadn't she? "So how old am I?" she asked, carefully opening the closet door and stepping outside. 'Why hadn't I ever thought of wearing this color before,' she wondered. She wasn't even sure it was winter outside, but the cashmere felt good against her skin and gave her a warm, comfortable feeling, which she felt she sorely needed.

Inuyasha was sitting on the freshly made bed, but he stood when he saw her, his eyes opening wide. Kagome glanced down at her outfit suddenly very conscious of how far from her typical style it was, "What?"

He stepped forward, his eyes following the line of her body in a way that made all the good hairs on her body stand on end. "I never get tired of the sight of you," he whispered thickly.

The intensity in his eyes brought the heat into her cheeks and she blushed, glancing over his shoulder to quickly change the subject.

Her mouth fell open. "You made the bed?" she asked.

Inuyasha blinked, as if he hadn't understood her words, then looked back at the bed sheepishly. "Well, I was just sitting out here and I thought you wouldn't like to see the bed disheveled so…" he met her eyes and saw the amazement there. He blushed. "It's not the fancy way you do it, but, at least…" he trailed off, realizing what he was saying.

"It's wonderful," Kagome assured him. Suddenly, she laughed. "I think I can honestly tell you that I don't remember ever doing better."

Inuyasha looked at her, but at the honest humor in her eyes, he smiled.

Kagome couldn't seem to help herself but approach him. She almost reached out to touch his smile, to feel it as if to assure herself it was real. She sighed, a smile still on her lips. "I don't think I've ever seen you smile, Inuyasha," she said softly.

Inuyasha frowned and neared her, as if he needed to feel closer to her. "I have a feeling I wouldn't like this Inuyasha you think you know."

Kagome thought she would lose herself in the depths of sincerity in his eyes. When some part of her mind realized she was within kissing distance, she exhaled and stepped back. "I need to get some fresh air."

"Yeah, okay," Inuyasha agreed, stepping back. "Maybe we can go for a walk and talk about all of this, okay?"

Kagome nodded. "Yeah, let's go," she said, starting to walk to the door of the room. She was more than ready to see something besides this bedroom and the bathroom.

"Ah, Kagome?" Inuyasha asked.

Kagome looked back at him. "Yes?"

"You might want to put on some shoes."

Kagome looked down at her bare feet and tried very hard not to blush. She sighed and walked back to the closet. She was sure she saw some shoes there…She stopped and stared at the wall of shoes hanging along the far wall. There had to be over 15 pairs of shoes there, and they were all organized neatly in pairs by color. These had to be hers, but…she shook her head…he couldn't ever remember owning that many pairs of shoes in her life. Well, she decided. She certainly had enough shoes to choose from, which made the fact that she almost walked out into the street without shoes all the more embarrassing. She couldn't believe she had almost walked out onto the street without shoes…wait…what was she talking about? She couldn't believe _anything_ that had happened to her so far, so why should the fact she forgot to put on shoes be any different?

Unable to find any sneakers or sandals at first glance, she stopped halfway to reaching for a pair of brown heeled pumps which seemed to be the most comfortable of the bunch and stood up. _Wait a minute,_ she thought. _Since when did Inuyasha care about shoes?_ She shrugged and slipped on the shoes, re-considering the intelligence of that decision when she noticed the sharp point and the lack of anything to tie the shoe to her ankle. She looked at the wall o' shoes and sighed. No way was she braving that mountain again…she'd go with the brown pumps. If they were there, that meant she could deal with them…didn't it? She stood, balancing on the heel. "These have to be at least 4 inches," she mumbled.

"You okay?" Inuyasha asked, peeking his head into the door she had left open.

Kagome jumped and nearly tripped on the heels before getting her balance again. She glared at Inuyasha. "Don't do that, okay?"

Inuyasha chuckled. "Sorry." He extended his arm to her. "Need a hand?"

She started to reach for him when she noticed the ring on his finger and stopped. She cleared her throat and managed to walk out of the room. "Say, didn't you want to show me something?"

"Oh, yeah," Inuyasha went back to the room and picked up a box, holding it in his arm and starting for the door. "Got it, come on," he led her outside.

She tried not to show shock at the house as he led her through it, but she couldn't help but stare. It was so big! They were on a second story and their…the room they had come out of seemed to be the corner one. The door let out onto a hallway and she could see the doors of various other rooms along the tastefully decorated hall.

Inuyasha must have noticed her staring because he slowed down a little to let her explore. He pointed to the door at the end of the hall. "That's Miroku's room at the end," he pointed to the door in the corner at the end of the hall. "That's Sango's there…"

'_So, Sango and Miroku are living with us?' _Kagome thought. _'Us, being Inuyasha and I?' _she questioned_. _Hell, if she could believe that Inuyasha and she lived togeth…were married…then why couldn't she believe they lived with Sango and Miroku. She mentally shrugged. It somehow made sense. In the same way that it made sense that they were lawyers even though she couldn't ever remember a moment when she considered being a lawyer.

"…and…" he paused outside the door directly next to the room they had come out of. On the door was a picture of Albert Einstein in his most famous pose: hair sticking out at all angels and tongue sticking out roguishly at the photographer. Above the picture, scrawled in his own handwriting were the words _'I want to know God's thoughts…'_ and below the picture, the end of the quote proclaimed, _'…the rest are details.'_ Inuyasha chuckled at the poster. "That's Kohaku's, he changes the poster every few weeks, this one's new…" he turned to look at Kagome and trailed off as he noticed Kagome staring at the door as if she had seen a ghost.

"Ko…Kohaku?"

Inuyasha reached out and held onto her arm, afraid she'd faint again. "Kagome? Are you okay?"

Kagome shook her head, somehow managing to never lose sight of the cheerfully decorated door. "Kohaku is here?" she asked on a whisper.

"Well, not here right now, he's going to Western New England College, but he works with us at the office whenever he's on break, usually as a kind of errand boy, but…."Inuyasha trailed off at the look on Kagome's face.

'Kohaku was here!' she thought. And going to college! Sango must be so happy. Kagome felt the tears threatening to come to her eyes and she swallowed them back. This really did seem like the perfect world.

Inuyasha glanced at her, but didn't ask the question that burned in his mind, what was so important about Kohaku?

Kagome looked around her for an exit; she needed to get out into the fresh air. She didn't think she could take much more of this.

With a comforting hand at her back, Inuyasha led her around the wall behind her and nearly to the end of the hall, where, when she turned, she saw the stairs descending to the first floor. She practically flew down the staircase, trying not to focus on any of the various knick knacks on the wall that seemed to scream for her attention and didn't even notice that she was somehow managing to run down a flight of stairs in 4 inch heels and she didn't even wobble.

She stopped just under the threshold of a new room, directly before the staircase and found herself staring at a dining room that could've come straight out of the pages of Pottery Barn.

Her mouth hanging slightly open in awe, Kagome turned to look at Inuyasha who had caught up with her before the dining room. "Where did you get the money to live here?" she asked.

Inuyasha smiled at her sadly, as if he had been expecting quite a different reaction and she winced. Just because she was getting more comfortable around him didn't mean she could jut blurt out the first thing that came to her mind, she chastised. Wait a minute, she stopped herself. 'You're getting more comfortable with him?' She internally shook herself. This was way too much for her to think about now. It would be a whole lot easier if she gave it for a given that she was in some mad delusion type thing where she and Inuyasha were married and she was quite older and living in a…she looked down the hall to her left and gaped at the bright breakfast nook seeming to wait for her to sit in it and the bright sunlight from the windows shining on glimpses of an immaculately modern kitchen, then she looked to her right to a very classically decorated entrance hall lit beautifully by the sun shining through the stained glass center pane of the wood door that she supposed led to the outside. This was very obviously a rather large…very expensive house. But, she had to admit, she couldn't find a single thing that jarred her own sense of style or think of a single thing she would change had she decorated the few glimpses she had of the house, which in and of its own right, was slightly disconcerting. It was like this was her dream house…

Yes, that was it. She was dreaming, or delusional…she shrugged mentally. 'Whatever,' she told herself. 'Accept that this is what's going on right now and deal with it. Denying that it's happening at all won't get you anywhere.' She steeled herself with the thought and met Inuyasha's eyes.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that," she apologized.

Inuyasha shook his head. "It's okay, I thought that maybe you had remembered, but…"

She put a hand on his shoulder before she could stop herself. "It's not that I don't remember, exactly," she pointed out gently. "I don't think I'm just suddenly going to remember…" she trailed off and looked around her again. _'I think I just have to accept what's happening to me, then figure out how to fix it.'_ She offered him a hesitant smile, one that asked his assistance with her idea, "I think if I can get a grip on where I am…_who_ I am, that would help." She sighed. "Maybe if you can…help remind me…"

He reached up to take his hand on her shoulder and Kagome flashed suddenly to another time he had done just that sitting on the banks of a river, but in front of her, Inuyasha smiled reassuringly at her and shattered the other image. _Which was real and which was dream?_ She wondered.

"I'll do everything I can…we all will."

Kagome did smile at him then. She looked around the house one more time, saw doorways to rooms she hadn't explored, and secrets she should look at, but the glimpses of sunlight from the windows drew her more. "How about that walk?" 'Fresh air!' her mind screamed. 'Get outside where things have to be more norm…'

The scene that greeted her as she stepped outside stopped the thought dead in its tracks.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Believe**

"_What is it in me that refuses to believe this isn't easier than the real thing?"_

_-Sarah McLachlan, Hold On_

The brisk crispness to the air assailed her senses as soon as she set foot outside the front door. She looked around her, awed at the sight before her eyes. She blinked in the bright fall sun, just starting to crest the horizon and looked around her at the stunning expanse of forest adorned in the most brilliant fall colors. As she gaped in awe, she had the disconcerting sensation that she was standing right smack in the middle of a picture postcard. One of those you get in the mail that proclaim loudly 'Wish you were here!' and a bit more quietly whisper, 'Don't you wish you were too?' She shook her head. Never in her life had she ever seen such a variety of colors and textures in nature and it took her breath away. _So much for the outside being any more normal than the inside_, she thought.

She tilted her head back to try and see the tops of the trees closest to her and found herself shading her eyes in the attempt. What kinds of trees were those, anyway? She was sure she had to have studied them in ecology…maybe…but she couldn't remember. There was a large thick tree just past the pathway to the front door. It stood massive and majestic and it reminded her a great deal of the Goshinboku from the shrine back home. Hanging from one of the thick lower branches was a simple rope swing. She stepped forward as phantom memories flickered over her eyes. She could see herself sitting in that swing, as Inuyasha sat nearby in the shade of the trunk with some papers in his hand. She could see his lips moving, as if he was reading to the girl who swayed back and forth gently before him, her long black hair almost trailing along the ground.

As quickly as these visions danced before her, they faded away as a beam of sunlight pierced through a cloud above and cast a streak of light over the swing. With this new light, she saw something hanging from the side of the tree and walked over to investigate. A small metal spigot emerged from the hard, knotted wood, and she ran her fingertip on the moisture that dripped very slowly from the end.

Inuyasha stepped up behind her and made a noise of surprise, "Oh, the sap's running early this year, I should let Simmons know, he'll be happy."

Kagome blinked and turned to him, and the look in her eyes must have clued him in to the fact she had no idea what he was talking about.

"You know, maple sap?" he looked at her a moment before explaining. "You boil it and make syrup. It's your favorite," he added after a moment.

She turned her eye back to the spigot, "You might want to get something to catch it then," she looked down at where the sap was still on her fingers. "It'd be such a shame to let it go to waste."

Inuyasha nodded and hurried back into the house, and she turned her gaze elsewhere. Faintly, off in the distance, she could hear the diluted rumble of cars and she realized that this place was hidden away from sight. The road that lead up to the house wound in a crescent shape before her, both ends disappearing into the trees that seemed to stand as a barrier between them and the rest of the world.

Her eyes drifted along the asphalt until they settled on the cars that were parked in the driveway. There were two there, but the spaces of dry pavement that were directly behind them told her that two more cars had spent their night there as well.

To the front and right, the larger of the two vehicles, stood a silver SUV. Everything about it radiated dependability and strength, the same things she always felt from Inuyasha. She couldn't make out much, but if her eyes were correct, she thought she could read Mitsubishi on the back.

'Well, we would buy Japanese made cars after all,' she thought, 'Even in a dream, that's logical.'

Beside the SUV, was a small, more feminine looking car. Nothing overtly fancy, it was a rich forest green in color. She stepped up and looked inside. The interior wasn't too fancy, but it was definitely a new car. There was a beaded seat cover on the driver's side, the black and brown large beads standing out on the pale beige seat. It would make sense that this be her car, but…_her car?_

She took a quick step back as she heard the door close and turned, half guiltily like one caught with their hands in the cookie jar to watch Inuyasha appear with what looked like a small plastic sand bucket, like the ones that children used at the beach. She covered her mouth to stop a giggle from emerging as he carefully hooked it below the spigot and turned to face her. His lips curved ever so slightly into a gentle smile, and he walked over. That walk, she realized, that stride that was strong, confident…lithe…like he had joints in places normal people didn't…and so incredibly Inuyasha…that walk she would know from leagues away half asleep and with the sun in her eyes…she would know that walk anywhere…

She didn't realize she had been holding her breath at the warm sight and feeling he evoked in her until he must have realized something about her train of thought because his warm smile notched into wickedly sensual as he shortened the distance between them and her breath left her in an audible sigh. The air was just chilled enough to fog her breath before her eyes, and she realized that perhaps the warm sweater that she had worn might not be warm enough.

She must have shivered, too, because Inuyasha extended his arm to her. "Here," Inuyasha handed her a suede jacket. Kagome took it in a daze. "I thought you might need this."

Kagome blinked at him. '_Where had he been holding that?'_ she wondered. She noticed that he had put on a jacket of his own and amended her thought. _Had she even realized he was wearing his own jacket?_ She shook her head. _She really had to stop mentally drooling at the man and start paying more attention_.

She slipped into the jacket, relishing in the warmth it brought. Rather than ogle him any more, Kagome turned back to the site she had been inspected prior to her…distraction. The forest seemed to stretch out around her. She inhaled a deep breath of the clean forest air, bringing the jacket closed around her and smiled. "Toto," she exhaled, shaking her head. "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore," she mumbled under her breath.

Inuyasha was looking at her in shocked amazement but at her blank look, he blinked himself out of it. She suddenly realized that she had effectively called him a dog and was just about to apologize when Inuyasha broke out in laughter. She frowned in confusion. "What?" she asked.

"You don't even realize…?" he asked, a smile on his face. When she shook her head in the negative, he laughed again. "Well, at least that hasn't changed…" he started leading her down a path that seemed to go around the right side of the house and through the woods. "You still have the same kind of sense of humor."

"I'm sorry, Inuyasha," she said sincerely. "I can't seem to keep from sticking my foot in my mouth today," she looked at him as she walked. He was still smiling at her. _'Well, he certainly had a different sense of humor here,'_ she thought. The Inuyasha she knew would have gone off and sulked for a week. "I didn't mean anything by it, really."

Inuyasha shook his head, still smiling and with a hand at the small of her back, started leading her along a well worn path around the side of the house, into the forest. "When we were kids," he started, his pace even and easy, unhurried. "You used to call me Toto all the time," he explained. He shook his head again. "It was just a nickname," he shrugged. "I didn't take any offense," he assured her. "I just hadn't heard it in a while."

"Oh," she said, falling into an easy rhythm beside him. She wanted to say 'I'm sorry' again but she didn't know for what. Instead, she looked around her at the tips of the tall trees as they walked through the well trod path and let the silence stretch easily between them. His steady, constant presence beside her seemed to make walking through this alien landscape that much easier and natural, and the brisk, comforting wind started to clear her head. The confusion hadn't gone away yet, not by a long shot, but at least she wasn't as disoriented as she had been. It wasn't perfect, but she had to take what she could get.

There were so many differences between this world and her own, she realized, and the fact that Inuyasha and she were married, although certainly the most shocking one was only one of many. She was starting to remember several things Inuyasha and the others had mentioned which she had been too shocked to process then, but…

Ayumi worked as a secretary for her? And Kohaku was living with them and going to University? And Kaede was here and Miroku and Sango lived with them and conference calls and leather pants and thong underwear and…_massage oil?!_ She tried not to dwell too much on the possibilities that one little bottle seemed to bring to her mind.

Her head was spinning. She brought a hand up to her temple in a vain attempt to still the thoughts enough to focus on one. Somehow, it worked until only one though broke through to scream at her.

_Western New England College?_

She stopped suddenly and Inuyasha took a few steps before he realized she had. He turned back to look at her, walking back to stand beside her. "Kagome?"

"Where am I?" she asked.

Inuyasha's eyes widened. "We're taking a walk around…"

She could read the look in his face as clearly as if she had access to his mind. His eyes seemed to scream 'Oh, no, not again!' Kagome almost laughed. "No, I know that, just…where, as in what city? What country?"

He blinked, surprised by the sudden desperation in her voice, "Massachusetts."

"Oh, Massachusetts," she said, her voice surprisingly calm, almost frighteningly so for her, "Wait," she visibly swallowed, "As in the United States of America, Massachusetts?"

He nodded slowly.

She tried very hard not to freak out. After all, she couldn't freak out after every single new development. Hadn't she decided that she would accept the information as it came and deal with it that way rather than freaking out, kicking and screaming for every little thing? She fortified herself with the thought. 'I promise I will give you one kicking and screaming breakdown moment, Kagome,' she told herself. 'But not yet.' She inhaled slowly, starting to walk again, then exhaled as she looked at Inuyasha. "So, Massachusetts, huh?" she asked, surprised at how calm her voice sounded. _I guess the pep talk worked_, she thought.

Inuyasha laughed and she somehow knew that he had witnessed her internal debate about whether to breakdown now or later. "I never cease to be amazed by you," he said, awed.

She felt that sinking feeling steel through all her senses, as if she might fall beneath the surface of his eyes and never find herself again if she wasn't careful, and she forced herself to smile to lighten the mood. "Oh, I have a feeling you'll have more than your share of me before I get all this straightened out," she said laughing softly.

He recognized it for what it was, but smiled anyway. "Never."

"So," Kagome spoke to break the silence.

Inuyasha smiled softly at her and broke the contact, taking her hand in his and walking with her down the path. "So?"

Kagome's thoughts had scattered like leaves with the soft press of his hand in hers, and she had to work on gathering them all. She looked at the trees passing her by as she walked, focused on the crunch of the ground under her, anything but the warmth of Inuyasha's hand. "Lawyer," she blurted.

Inuyasha chuckled. "What about them?"

"You said we're lawyers?" she asked.

"Mm-hmm," he answered. "Almost for two years now."

"Two years?!" Kagome asked, surprised. She had seen her reflection as older in the mirror, so she knew she had to be older in this…life, but a lawyer for two years? She tried to calculate the age she would be in her mind…'Undergraduate University education takes four years or so,' she reasoned. 'And law school is another, what? Three?' She looked at him. "How old am I, anyway?" she asked for the second time. She would've been 18 when she graduated high school, right? So…

"You just turned 25 this spring," he told her.

"I'M WHAT?!" she exclaimed, watching as Inuyasha's ears fell back against his head and he winced at the tone of her voice. She took a few deep breathes to try to calm herself. 'Twenty five?!' She suddenly felt very old. She couldn't be sure she hadn't let out a whimper or two and she knew her eyes must be shining begging disbelief. _She must have heard wrong,_ she thought. "Twenty five?" she asked again, her tone softer.

When Inuyasha realized she had gotten control over her emotions, he let his ears stand upright again. "You're pretty young for a lawyer with two years experience under her belt."

"But…" she faltered. "Twenty-five?"

Inuyasha couldn't help but smile at the look of disbelief and self-pity on her face. "What age do you remember?"

She blushed. "Much younger," she hedged.

"What?" he asked. "Like 12?" Inuyasha grinned at her. "Don't tell me I'm a pedophile?"

Kagome laughed, despite herself. She really liked this Inuyasha's sense of humor…she wondered vaguely whether the Inuyasha she knew had the same type of sense of humor buried deep within somewhere… "No," she consented. "Yesterday, when I went to sleep, I was 16 years old," she admitted.

Inuyasha's eyes opened wide. "Sixteen?" he asked, clearly surprised. "That's nearly a decade younger," he whispered.

"I know," Kagome breathed. Ten years gone, just like that. Ten years that she couldn't remember, apparently, had even passed. Was she really crazy? How could someone just _forget_ ten years? She had to be crazy. A part of her ached for that time she had lost. How many moments had she missed? How many smiles, she felt Inuyasha's hand tighten softly in hers…how many caresses, how many fights…the particular instances started to try to make themselves known to her. Her high school graduation, getting accepted into Law School, Prom, University graduation…moving, starting a new life…_marriage to Inuyasha…_she sighed deeply and shook her head of the thoughts. "How do you think I feel?" she asked aloud.

Inuyasha saw the look steeling on her face and couldn't begin to imagine what it would feel like if he woke up without remembering ten years of his life, but he refused to let her sink into depression. There'd be time to figure all that out later. So, he laughed instead. "Well, I'll have to think of ways to make up those years for you, then, won't I?"

Kagome recognized a change in topic when she heard one, but at the underlying promise to his words, she still had to fight back the blush that wanted to creep up her neck and to her cheeks as she remembered how she had woken up that morning. It didn't help that the warmth of Inuyasha's hand still in hers reminded her of the feel of his arm wrapped around her stomach. "Yeah," she managed. "I guess you will."

Suddenly, his grin turned roguish and he tugged on her hand, "I just thought of something," his other hand went onto the small of her back to lead her in a different direction and she felt the ripple of sensation all the way through to her toes. "Come on."

He started forward, moving in a fast walk, pulling her along. He definitely had some place in mind. When he deviated from the path and started to the left, through a far less obvious path, Kagome cursed the fact that she hadn't bothered to look for a more sensible pair of shoes.

"Inuyasha," she started. "Where are we…?" the question died on her lips as he stopped and her eyes fell on the most beautiful sight she had ever seen. She gasped softly, the tears coming to her eyes because she somehow knew…knew without a shadow of a doubt and regardless to the fact that there were all these trifling little questions she still had unanswered…that something special had happened in this place. She might not be in the body she remembered or in the place she knew, but this body, this heart…it knew.

"What happened here?" she asked. "Why do I feel as if my heart knows this place?" she whispered.

Inuyasha hadn't let go of her hand. "I proposed to you here," he answered softly. "Exactly one month after your birthday last year, at sunset."

The emotions that flooded through her were too much for her to handle and she started to collapse, her reserves cracking and falling apart as the tears came in a flood. Somehow, she realized she was in his arms, that he was rocking her and murmuring soothing nothings against her hair, but she couldn't seem to stop.

After what seemed like forever, the tears started to ease, but she still clung to him as if he were her only lifeline. "I don't even know what's real anymore," she finally managed. He was stroking her hair slowly, gently and the steady feel of his hand running through her hair from crown to tip and then back to the crown soothed her and calmed her more than anything ever had. She knew she should move away from him, but didn't dare. "This can't be real, but…" she trailed off and sighed into his shoulder. "You feel so real to me, Inuyasha…"

He pulled her far enough away from him so he could look at her, pushing her hair tenderly out of her face. "I think you need to tell me what you remember now."

Kagome blinked, wiping away the last of the tears and moving out of Inuyasha's embrace. What had come over her, she wondered. She was more embarrassed than anything now…but she did owe him an explanation, didn't she? After all, he had been so patient with her…he hadn't even told her she was crazy or tried to get her to see a doctor or even…_Kaede_! Kaede was here! She would certainly know what to do! She made a mental note to ask him to call her as he had offered to do, but right now…right now she really did owe him some kind of explanation.

She looked out onto the tranquil lake and thought how amazing it was that not even the sun seemed to touch the surface.

"I don't know where to start," she admitted aloud.

"Well," he said calmly. Kagome turned to look at him and watched his profile as he contemplated the lake. "Well, I know that you recognize me and the others."

"Yes," she admitted.

"It's pretty obvious though," he turned to look at her. "That there are some differences in how you know us."

She nodded slowly. _That's the understatement of the year,_ she thought. "There are."

"Like what?" he prompted.

_Like Sango's a demon exterminator, Miroku's an ecchi Buddhist monk, Kohaku's under the spell of evil incarnate and you are nothing like this,_ she told him silently. Why couldn't she make her voice say any of that aloud? Sitting here, on the banks of a beautiful lake, basking in the warm light of an autumn Massachusetts sun, she couldn't make herself say it, because, even though she still remembered all those things as vividly as if it had been only yesterday she had lived them, it sounded crazy even to her own ears.

She looked back out over the lake and sighed. "Like we don't all live together, for one." She figured that was a safe place to start. "We don't live in America, either, we live in Japan." That was certainly true, just because they lived in the Warring States Era certainly didn't mean it was any less Japan.

"Like it was another life," he spoke softly. He looked up to meet her eyes, and his were filled with surprise. "What you remember, essentially, is a totally separate life from the one we have here?"

'_You have no idea,_' she thought. Outwardly, she nodded slowly, half expecting him to scream at her, or look at her as if she were crazy. It was one thing to have amnesia, but quite another to remember a different life. But of all the expressions that crossed his face; worry, confusion, hurt…disbelief nor doubt never made an appearance.

Having come to some sort of inner conclusion, he nodded. "I understand," he spoke. "What else?"

_Wow, that was relatively painless,_ she marveled. Still, she was cautious. "Miroku's a monk..."

"Miroku?!" Inuyasha exclaimed. He looked at her as if unable to grasp her words, then shook his head. "I know you probably didn't get a chance to notice, but the Miroku I know isn't very monk-ish."

Kagome laughed. "The Miroku I know isn't either."

Inuyasha's eyes widened. "But I thought you said he was a monk?"

Kagome nodded. "He is."

Inuyasha nodded, her meaning finally dawning on him. "Ah, I see."

Kagome nodded and looked back at the lake, leaning back on her hands. "Yeah, so does Sango."

Inuyasha chuckled. "What else?" he prompted again.

"Well…" she followed the path of a bird as it soared above the lake, but didn't touch the surface of the water until it disappeared beyond the trees.

He looked back out at the lake. "I've gathered we're not married, I mean, 16 is way too young, but…" he sighed. "We're not even a couple, are we?" he asked softly.

Kagome didn't know why it was so difficult for her to answer him. "No," she whispered. "We're not."

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, the conflict in his mind visible on his face as he slowly looked into her eyes. "Then what are we?"

She hadn't expected that question, even though, in retrospect, she should have considering how obvious he'd been about his feelings for her. The realization brought a blush to her cheeks and she looked away in an attempt to keep it from him. Her eyes focused on the reflection of the sunlight on the lake, seemingly searching its depths for a way to explain to him. She couldn't explain everything, that would be too long and complicated, and she knew it would hurt him, so she simply answered truthfully. "I'm not sure," she admitted. "It's..." she faltered. "…we're... very complicated." He smiled, a sad smile that made something inside her ache with the pain she saw reflected there. She stood, stepping away from him and walked to the very edge of the lake so close that when she looked down, the new, twenty-five year old reflection looked back at her. She crossed her arms over her chest, turning fully away from him. "I'm sorry, Inuyasha, but this is very hard for me."

She didn't hear him stand even though she felt him when he closed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around her from behind. She stiffened momentarily, the ease with which he held her both comforting and strange. She felt his heartbeat against her back, the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed and she found herself leaning back into him. She looked down at the water again and watched as he rested his head on her shoulder. She looked at the picture they painted, Inuyasha's arms around her middle, his chin comfortably on her shoulder, the silver of his hair mingling with the dark of hers and she felt as if she felt detached again, as if she weren't living the moment, as if she weren't feeling his arms around her, the weight of his head on her shoulder, the press of his chest against her back, but rather as if they were two strangers staring up at her. She sighed and closed her eyes, breathing in his closeness, allowing herself to really feel the warmth from his body and the press of his arms, keeping her safe.

"I know it's difficult for you, honey," he spoke softly. "I know and I'm sorry." The vibrations of his voice traveled through her body and she shivered in response. She felt his arms tighten against her, bringing her closer to his warmth. "But no matter what you might remember, I couldn't help but be in love with you." Kagome's eyes opened in shock at his simple declaration and she turned her head to look at him. "You can count on me no matter what comes our way and I'll do everything I can to get you through this…" he trailed off. "For whatever you need me."

Kagome felt the tears prick her eyes, but she blinked them away and smiled. She brought her hand to touch his face. "Now that hasn't changed that much," she whispered. "You've always been there for me."

Inuyasha smiled at her. "See," he let her turn in his arms so she was facing him. "I knew the other me couldn't be that different."

At the mention of the other Inuyasha, Kagome smiled and stepped out of his arms gently. She sighed. "But you are," she insisted, looking out at the lake. She sensed him about to say something else, so she turned to face him and smiled brightly. "Why don't you tell me some more about this life, like how long we've known each other here?" She turned her head to the side. "How did we meet?"

Inuyasha extended a hand to Kagome and she took it, trying very hard not to look at the ring on his finger. He led her to the bank of the lake and sat down, bringing her down with him. "Well, we met on the day of your seventh birthday…" he trailed off. "Actually, on the night before your seventh birthday," he corrected himself.

"Seven?" Kagome asked, surprised.

Inuyasha nodded. "Yep," he frowned a little. "I had run away from my house that afternoon…" he trailed off, lost in his memories. "I was so lost," he said, on a half laugh. "We still lived in Tokyo then, but I remember getting on the first bus I found and taking it wherever it went, finally I got off, I don't even remember why, but it was getting dark and I was lost and I thought some of the police along the street were looking for me and suddenly as I turned a corner, I looked up and there it was…"

Kagome was lost in his story, seeing the lost little boy that Inuyasha must've been. "What was?" she prompted.

"The Shrine."

"Grandpa's shrine?" Kagome asked.

Inuyasha looked down at her and nodded. "Of course, I didn't know who's shrine it was or anything about it, except that I felt like I'd be safe there and it would be a place to wait until it got light enough for me to figure out where I was going because it had occurred to me that I didn't have anyplace else to go." He shrugged. "So, anyway, I went up the steps and into the shrine and I managed to hide in the well house on the property until I saw the house lights dim." He started to look sheepish. "So the later it became, the hungrier I became, and the fact that I could smell the cooking Ramen in the house hadn't helped, so finally, I decided that if I could make it into the house, I would take whatever leftover food there was…"

"You were going to steal from us?" Kagome asked.

Inuyasha smiled sheepishly. "I was going to leave some money for it."

Kagome smiled. "Of course you were, how old were you, anyway?"

Inuyasha ran his hand through his hair. "Oh, about eight I think."

'So we're still one year apart,' Kagome thought.

"So, everything would've turned out fine if a certain little girl hadn't been so excited about her birthday that she snuck out of her room way past her bedtime in order to sneak a look at her cake."

Kagome laughed. "I didn't!"

Inuyasha nodded, a smile still on his lips at the memory. "You did," he insisted. "I was searching for your leftovers when I smelled a sweet scent coming down the stairs. I ran away and, unable to make it to the well house, I climbed up into the tree."

"The Go-Shinboku tree?" Kagome questioned.

Inuyasha nodded. "Yes."

"But that still doesn't explain how we met?"

Inuyasha chuckled. "Well, I don't know exactly why, but you told me once that you had noticed something wrong with the kitchen, like something was mixed up, probably the mess I made, and that when you looked around, you noticed my white hair in the tree."

Kagome itched to feel the softness of his hair in her hands again but refrained. "I'm sure it was pretty noticeable."

Inuyasha smiled. "Well, next thing I know, you were walking out across the courtyard toward me in the tree with leftover ramen in your hands and a soda can," he laughed. "I'm never going to forget your first words to me."

Kagome felt as if she were in a trance. "Are you hungry?" she whispered.

Inuyasha looked at her, eyes opening wide. "Yes, exactly…" Inuyasha whispered. "Kagome?" he spoke, that one word asking all that his words couldn't.

She shook her head. "I…" she lowered her head. "Just…please go on."

Inuyasha smiled. "So, I almost didn't know what to say, but long story short, I came down from my tree and after our introductions while I sat there eating, you reached up for my ears." He looked out at the lake. "I thought for sure, you'd call out to your family and run from the demon, but you giggled and told me I was cute." He shook his head, a smile on his lips. "I think I fell in love with you right at that moment."

Kagome gave in to her desire and leaned closer to him. She looked up at him, the words of comfort and apology in her eyes. She opened her mouth to say something, anything, but he put a hand on her lips, stopping her.

"What I didn't know," he continued. "Was how you can fall in love with someone and grow to love them even more with time, but you taught me that it was possible." Kagome leaned against him and waited for him to continue the story. "I hid out in your well house for days, you see, and every morning and every night you would bring out food for me and sit with me and we'd talk. I told you why I had run away from my house and how I didn't want to go back there and you swore to not tell your mother anything about it, but about a week after your birthday, there was this stranger in the shrine who was kinda wounded and was seeking shelter. You didn't like him, but your grandfather had a duty to give him rest and shelter since he hadn't given him any reason to suspect him of anything. I thought the guy was just as creepy as you, and asked you to stay with me, hidden, but you told me that you couldn't or your family would know and so I had to keep hidden."

"So," Inuyasha continued. "the next morning after the guy had supposedly left, your mother was at work and your grandfather was doing something around the back of the shrine so you came out of the shrine and toward the tree. Only, the stranger was suddenly there and he was following you. I was just about to come out of the tree, but you told me to stay there." He frowned at the memory. "I don't even know exactly how everything happened, only I remember you screamed and the next thing I knew I was out of the tree and had pushed the unconscious guy halfway across the grounds. Your grandfather came running and called the police. By the time they came, I was sure your grandfather and mother were going to turn me in to them, but to my utter amazement, you stood up for me: you told them I was your friend and that I was lost but that I didn't want to go back to my house because my brother was mean to me and that the creep who was still unconscious as the police led him away had tried to hurt you and…" here, Inuyasha paused, his hand turning into a fist at his side at the remembered words, as if it had only just happened. Kagome couldn't help it, but found herself gently running her fingers across his fist, as if to soothe the tension there. He looked up at her and exhaled, continuing. "…and that he had tried to touch you…and that I had saved you." He smiled and shook his head, the fist releasing so that her fingers were now absently touching his opened palm. "What shocked me even more, though, was how your mother took me into the house and told me that I had to shower and change if I was to make it in time for dinner."

Kagome suddenly realized that she was caressing his open palm and stilled her hand, half of her instincts telling her to pull away and the other half telling her to continue. With a slightly inaudible sigh, Kagome pulled her hand back into her lap and looked up into Inuyasha's eyes, smiling. "That sounds just like my mother."

Inuyasha sighed, but his eyes didn't loose the tenderness. "She prepared a place for me to sleep in your baby brother's room and it wasn't until the next day that she told me she would have to call my house and tell them where I was because they must be so worried. I explained to her the whole situation and she insisted on calling my brother but told me that I could come over to her house whenever I wanted…that she would expect me there for dinner at least once a week and every day after school if I didn't have anyone else to watch me." He chuckled. "My brother came to pick me up that very afternoon but from that day on, the shrine became my second home." He looked down at Kagome. "And we became inseparable."

Kagome watched the look on his face, the gentle smile as his voice seemed to whisper to something other than her ears…deeper…

_Inseparable…_

This lake touched a chord in her and its song reverberated throughout her body, echoing in her heart. It was the same chord as the feeling deep inside that pulled her towards him, or perhaps him towards her. She didn't care about the particular details at that moment. Right at that moment all that mattered was the fact that he stared down into her eyes, first with the warmth that his memories provided, but slowly, as he read the look on her face, his eyes widened slightly and she knew that he felt the pull too.

_What was she doing?_ some part of her asked. _This wasn't her Inuyasha!_ It reminded her. _Giving in to this now, will only bring pain later,_ it pointed out, but despite it all, Kagome didn't fight the pull as it compelled her to lean closer. She was afraid of breaking this intoxicating spell she seemed to be under, so afraid that she would wake up and find that it really had been all a dream, and even more afraid that he would pull away. For, throughout all this time, all she had ever wanted, all she ever wished for silently in her prayers at night, and her thoughts during the day, was culminating in this moment.

Inuyasha was here, and he loved her.

Her skin tingled as she leaned closer, feeling his warm sigh hit her cheeks as he grew nervous, but never moved. _He's leaving it to me,_ was her conscious thought as slowly her hand came up and touched his cheek, her eyes never leaving his. With all the nervousness she felt deep inside, she brought her face to his, and touched her lips to his with the lightest of touches. For her, it was the first time she was allowed to taste his lips, but her body recognized it, counted this as one amongst the hundreds of kisses she had experienced. A faint whisper echoed in her mind, of another time, in this place, with the same warm sunset clothing her skin and she welcomed it in, drew it into her consciousness the way she drew in his breath as the kiss deepened.

_In her mind's eye, wrapped in the memory, she watched as Inuyasha dropped gracefully down on one knee before her, his eyes dark and unreadable. For all the classic scenarios that this position heralded, it didn't register in her mind that this could possibly be THE moment. He held her hands in his, as his head bowed forward, his snowy white bangs partially hiding his face from her. The man she stared at was Inuyasha in his full glory, the man she had loved her whole life, his hair shimmering in the dying sunlight. He was an angel, her angel, brought to this earth and miraculously given to her. After a moment, he looked up and the emotions that played out in his eyes and on his face made her heart stop in her chest. Finally he spoke, his voice so thick that it was almost unrecognizable._

_"Kagome, I have known you since we were children, but I know that we have known each other for much longer…there's simply no way that you could mean as much to me as you do in only one lifetime. Our hearts beat as one; our souls have been joined since time immemorial. You are my best friend, my lover, and the most incredible gift that I have ever been blessed enough to receive. We have traveled this path of life side by side for so long and I can't see any future if you're not in it. That is why I am asking you Kagome, to take my ring, my name, and my mark, and to live with me, the rest of our lives together as my wife. _

Kagome's eyes fluttered open, and as she stared at the closed eyes, the trembling lips beneath hers, the words passed from her lips in a soft happy sigh, before she even realized she was to speak them.

"I will."

Inuyasha's eyes shot open at her words, his eyes full of hope mingled with wariness. She knew he wanted to ask if she had remembered something, but was afraid to because of previous experience. With a sigh, she brought him close to her in a hug, pressing her face against his shoulder. "I think I just remembered when you proposed to her," she whispered.

Inuyasha sighed and held her closer. "That's wonderful, koishii," he spoke. "You'll see, we'll…" he trailed off as another part of her words caught his attention. He pulled away from her enough to look at her face. "Her?" he questioned.

Kagome blinked back tears. "I saw…felt…the memory as if it were my own, but…" she trailed off and stepped out of his embrace, even if her body mourned the loss of his warmth. She hugged herself instead. "…I just can't think of _her_ the girl who lived that, as _me_…" she looked back at him, the depths of her apology in her eyes. "…not yet."

She had been so close, he thought. He could see…no, feel the memory in the way she held him, the way she responding to his kiss. It was almost as if part of her was ashamed and pushing parts of her life away from her. He didn't know why she didn't remember or why she was uncomfortable with the surfacing memories, but whatever was causing this, or despite whatever exactly was happening, if she needed to take it slow, he would take it slow. If it meant he had to take apart their life moment by moment and present it to her, he would.

Outwardly, he exhaled, and shook his head, smiling at her. "It's alright; we'll take it one step at a time." He grinned at her. "One memory at a time if we have to," he said and Kagome could see the same determination she was familiar with whenever he faced off against a youkai after the jewel. He turned and found the box he had brought with them, and then sat down again. "Come," he motioned the ground next to him. "I want to show you something that might help."


End file.
